He told me his wife had been urging him to retire.

He had spent forty years working nights, first at a warehouse and then at the hospital, and he had been putting off the idea of slowing down.

“Maybe she’s right,” he admitted.

“Maybe I ought to learn to sleep when the rest of the world sleeps.”

“Do you have any hobbies?” I asked.

“Fishing.

When the fish agree to cooperate.”

I promised him that when my doctor cleared me for a full day outdoors, we’d go fishing.